Gave the car a good clay barring. When I did it last year a month or so after buying it I used a whole bar as it was that bad. This time I used a quarter and what I had left was still pretty clean, just shows how regular cleaning and waxing really does protect the paintwork.

Then gave it a good polish followed by some bilt hammer auto balm which someone had used on here and was impressed.

I can only recommend it. My paint has never looked so glossy, the gabbiano blue always looks great in the sunshine but with this auto balm it really shines in dull conditions such as today.

Brake calipers next week and by then I hope something loud and exciting turns up in time for a weekend away I've got coming up..

Tried and failed to remove cover to replace number plate bulb on GT. Owners manual less than illuminating, can anyone throw any light on how to do this?

Push the holder right to left (as already said) there's a spring holding it from the left side - pushing against that spring should allow the recess on the right of the plastic moulding to clear the body panel and fall away from its location. Of course in practice the recess is full of sticky road gunge and wash and wax residue so you'll need to "assist" its fall. Once out you'll also probably need to relocate and maybe re-shape the spring to make it sit back in the recess correctly (I did).

Just waiting for pay day this week so I can order the much needed aluminium undertray since the PO of my car has absolutely mangled the factory tray. Parts of the middle section must have broken so they poorly fabricated a slim metal plate and used tek screws to hold it in place.......safe to say that every minor bump in the road now results in scrapes and a horrible noise as the plate grinds along the surface.

So the aluminium tray will do wonders for my ears and stop me from getting strange looks

Just waiting for pay day this week so I can order the much needed aluminium undertray since the PO of my car has absolutely mangled the factory tray. Parts of the middle section must have broken so they poorly fabricated a slim metal plate and used tek screws to hold it in place.......safe to say that every minor bump in the road now results in scrapes and a horrible noise as the plate grinds along the surface.

So the aluminium tray will do wonders for my ears and stop me from getting strange looks

There was no tray on my GTA when I bought it, didn't even know it was supposed to have one until recently. Do I need it? Seems like it would be just more unwanted weight at the front and a pain to get out of the way when I want to tinker

Silver rockers and fuel rails, black cambelt cover, black plenum, black cam cover with the splines as such in red

I've seen gunmetal with red but not black....looking forward to seeing the finished result.
You've done the hardest part which was making the decision on getting the work done...now you can sit back and look forward to your car's return to former glory.

There was no tray on my GTA when I bought it, didn't even know it was supposed to have one until recently. Do I need it? Seems like it would be just more unwanted weight at the front and a pain to get out of the way when I want to tinker

I would put one on purely from the POV that it will stop road gunk getting up into the engine bay and potentially wearing out ancillary parts quicker. Lots of hoses and bits and pieces that will only take a stick or decent sized rock getting thrown up into the engine bay to take them out. So from that perspective I think they're definitely worth it.

The undertray is fairly straight forward to remove and I am pretty sure is secured by 7 small screws. I also think with the aluminium tray it would be even easier to remove as obviously its a lot more rigid than the plastic OE tray so should have less issues with flex etc. putting it out of alignment. It also gives around 20mm better clearance than the OE tray too which is nice since I am planning on lowering the car at some point this year. Although the GF wants to head back to Aus for a holiday this year so she might take the suspension upgrade off the table

I've seen gunmetal with red but not black....looking forward to seeing the finished result.
You've done the hardest part which was making the decision on getting the work done...now you can sit back and look forward to your car's return to former glory.

I treated some rust on the inner aspect of my wheel arch. It's not ground breaking stuff but it's what I did today. Well it's not all I did, I lead a busy fulfilled life, but that's what I did with my 156.

Gave the wagon a bit of a service yesterday, oil & filter, air & fuel filter. Found that one of the screws that holds on the top of the airbox on had stripped the plastic of the airbox so ended up fitting some larger self tappers. The lid of the airbox is not much better secured but it felt like a bit of a bodge.

The engine loves an oil change, really quiet and smooth at tick over. Took it out for a run last night and I think that the airbox had been letting in un-metered air as the car seemed to be less smokey, will see today what its like.

Need to give it all a check over today for leaks, re-fit the exhaust heat sheild as had left that off as it gives better access to the oil filter, change the pollen filter and reset the service warning on the dash.

Gave the wagon a bit of a service yesterday, oil & filter, air & fuel filter. Found that one of the screws that holds on the top of the airbox on had stripped the plastic of the airbox so ended up fitting some larger self tappers. The lid of the airbox is not much better secured but it felt like a bit of a bodge.

The engine loves an oil change, really quiet and smooth at tick over. Took it out for a run last night and I think that the airbox had been letting in un-metered air as the car seemed to be less smokey, will see today what its like.

Need to give it all a check over today for leaks, re-fit the exhaust heat sheild as had left that off as it gives better access to the oil filter, change the pollen filter and reset the service warning on the dash.

Used self tappers on my airbox too and it worked a treat. Mine had let in unfiltered air though and not long after my MAF stopped working. It must have been packing up gradually as when I changed it the car was a lot more responsive.

Gave the wagon a bit of a service yesterday, oil & filter, air & fuel filter. Found that one of the screws that holds on the top of the airbox on had stripped the plastic of the airbox so ended up fitting some larger self tappers. The lid of the airbox is not much better secured but it felt like a bit of a bodge.

The engine loves an oil change, really quiet and smooth at tick over. Took it out for a run last night and I think that the airbox had been letting in un-metered air as the car seemed to be less smokey, will see today what its like.

Need to give it all a check over today for leaks, re-fit the exhaust heat sheild as had left that off as it gives better access to the oil filter, change the pollen filter and reset the service warning on the dash.

It wouldn't let in unmetered air, but if the airbox lid wasn't pushing the air filter down hard then the air filter might not be sealing against the bottom of the airbox, which means unfiltered air might be getting in. That in itself will make a MAF dirty and not read as accurately, which could cause smoking. My old 20v had done this at some point and although it worked and drove fine, it was noticeably better when I put a new MAF in it.

gave the car a good wash today and followed up with bilt amber auto-balm, must say it's fantastic stuff, a huge improvement on everything I have used..have never seen the car so damn shiney.. and the metallic flakes really come through nicely...

there is a knack though, TINY amounts are required and you must keep the applicator wet, i used an atomizer full of water and did a panel at a time and buffed straight off,it's not particularly labour intensive and gives an outstanding result, I highly recommend this magical stuff, probably made at Hogwarts..

also removed the LED H6w's from the side lights and replaced with a couple of Lucas bulbs from ECP and fitted Osram nightbreaker unlimited to all the H7's and also the H1 Fogs, the result of todays efforts is a very clean car with outstandingly bright headlights..

then got a sidelight error, turned out to be the rear and nothing to do with any of the bulb changes on the front , cleaned up the contacts and hey presto left rear light all good again. funny these cars sometimes with the timing of failures, you can't always attribute them to things you have done and experience told me the problem was unrelated to the changes I had just made, you could easily end up chasing your tail with something like this if you didn't know better!

Dropped it off at the garage for 4 new injectors for my JTS GT, only one failed (fault code P267: "cylinder 3 injector circuit low") but thought whilst the garage where in there with the inlet manifold out, I might as well make the most of it. This coming after spending over £500 on wishbones, brakes and other bits and pieces, its been a pricey month!

It started misfiring as I entered the Blackwall Tunnel, which is a feeling I never, ever want to repeat!

I'm after a set of 16" multispoke alloys to replace my 17" ones, the ride is too harsh for the roads round here and I'm worried about destroying my suspension and want a smoother ride. If the car is good and gets through the MOT, I think a set of Bilstein B4s and new springs are on the cards.

Do you know anyone with the setup you're thinking of getting already on their car? Take it for a drive and see if it's what you want. the B14s are a v popular choice for GTAs so I was able to do that before I got mine and knew what I was getting. Also the factory shocks on the 147 wear out pretty quickly so you may just need shocks not new springs.

Do you know anyone with the setup you're thinking of getting already on their car? Take it for a drive and see if it's what you want. the B14s are a v popular choice for GTAs so I was able to do that before I got mine and knew what I was getting. Also the factory shocks on the 147 wear out pretty quickly so you may just need shocks not new springs.

Its just wanted the B4s as I want an improvement over the worn OEM ones on there now, I can't afford anything fancier than that really. I'd love to try someones' GT but I don't know anyone!